Switzerland-based Proton, the privacy-focused firm behind end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) webmail ProtonMail and other apps, has acquired Standard Notes, a note-taking app founded back in 2017.
By adding Standard Notes to its portfolio of apps, Proton will deepen its reach with an engaged community of pro-privacy users, layering on additional cross-selling opportunities as well as boosting the utility of its app ecosystem.
And while there is some usage overlap, a Proton spokesperson said that less than a quarter of Standard Notes users are already Proton users.
Proton said the Standard Notes app, which is available for both mobile and desktop, will remain “open source, freely available and fully supported”.
Commenting in a statement, Mo Bitar, founder and CEO of Standard Notes, talked up the sense of shared mission.
Initially, the web version, called Truecaller for Web, will only be made available to Android users in India, the company said, but it plans to roll out the support in other territories in the future.
All Truecaller for Android users in India can now link their devices to the web client on a PC or a Mac through a QR code.
This is akin to linking the web version of a messenger like WhatsApp or Telegram.
Now users will be able to look up numbers without any such limitations on the web client, the company said.
Last month, it launched a “Max” feature update for Android users to block all calls from unapproved contacts or spam detected by AI.
EBay on Tuesday launched a new generative AI-powered feature to appeal to fashion enthusiasts: a “shop the look” section within its iOS mobile app that will suggest a carousel of images and ideas, based on the customer’s shopping history.
The idea is to introduce how other fashion items may complement their current wardrobe.
“Shop the look” will appear to any eBay shopper who has viewed at least 10 fashion items over the past 180 days, the company notes.
Google last summer introduced a way for consumers to virtually try on clothes using a new AI shopping feature, for example.
“Shop the look” will initially be available on iOS in the U.S. and U.K., with support for Android coming later this year.
X, formerly Twitter, is rolling out support for passkeys, a new and more secure login method compared with traditional passwords, to all iOS users globally.
In an update to the X @Safety account on Monday, the company shared that passkeys are now available as a login option for global iOS users.
Update: Passkeys is now available as a login option for everyone globally on iOS!
Try it out.https://t.co/v1LyN0l8wF — Safety (@Safety) April 8, 2024Passkey technology was initiated by Google, Apple, Microsoft, and the FIDO Alliance, alongside the World Wide Web Consortium.
Donald Trump Jr.’s X account was also hacked to post a fake message saying that Donald Trump had passed away.
WordPress.com owner Automattic is acquiring Beeper, the company behind the iMessage-on-Android solution that was referenced by the Department of Justice in its antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
One of the reasons why there are no other people building this type of app is it costs a surprisingly large amount of money to build a damn good chat app,” Migicovsky noted.
As for Beeper’s products, the company has now briefed the DOJ on what happened when Apple blocked its newer app, Beeper Mini, which aimed to bring iMessage to Android.
Beeper on Android launches to allThe company is instead releasing an updated version of its core app, Beeper, on Android.
In this rewritten version of Beeper, the company is starting to roll out fully end-to-end encrypted messages across Signal.
Mobile gadget and bag maker Targus says it is experiencing a “temporary interruption” to its business operations following a cyberattack on Friday.
In a notice with regulators on Monday, Targus’ parent company, B. Riley Financial, said it discovered “a threat actor gained unauthorized access to certain of Targus’ file systems,” and shut down much of its network to isolate the incident.
“The incident has been contained and Targus systems recovery efforts are in process,” the statement said.
B. Riley acquired Targus in a 2022 deal worth approximately $250 million.
When reached by email, a spokesperson for B. Riley did not immediately comment.
TikTok’s upcoming Instagram competitor app for sharing photos could be named TikTok Notes, according to screenshots posted by users.
Over the last few days, TikTok users have been getting pop-up notifications about a new TikTok Notes app to share photos.
The notification says that the company is launching “a new app for photo posts” called TikTok Notes soon and users’ existing photo posts will be shared on the app.
Looks like TikTok is launching a new app for photo posts called 'TikTok Notes'.
TikTok is also experimenting with different formats like 30-minute-long videos and even text posts like X and Threads.
Now at the top of the App Store, The Eclipse App is a great companion for Monday’s solar eclipseA well-designed app designed to optimize your viewing of the total solar eclipse on Tuesday has surged to the top of the App Store.
The app began its App Store climb late on Sunday, gaining 35,000 downloads on the App Store and starting to move up the charts.
The app is currently ranked first in its category (Travel) and ninth Overall in the U.S. App Store and eighth in its category via Google Play.
Reviews are mostly positive on the App Store: There are 40 5-star reviews vs. 22 1-star reviews, Appfigures says.
You can also check your local forecast and subscribe to local events and check out other local points of interest.
Google is launching its upgraded Find My Device network in the U.S. and Canada, the company announced on Monday.
Find My Device’s crowdsourced network of over a billion Android devices can help users find their misplaced Android devices and everyday items.
The Find My Device Network, which is similar to Apple’s Find My network, works with devices running Android 9+.
The new Find My Device network also integrates with Nest smart home gadgets and shows a lost device’s proximity to home Nest devices.
“Multi-layered protections built into the Find My Device network help keep you safe and your personal information private, while keeping you in control of the devices connected to the Find My Device network.
Google continues rolling out Gemini to different products as today the company announced that Android Studio’s bot is getting upgraded with Gemini Pro.
In May 2023, during the Google IO developer event, the company first introduced Studio Bot powered by the PaLM-2 foundation model.
The company is rolling out Gemini in Android Studio in over 180 countries for the Android Studio Jellyfish version.
Just like the Studio Bot, the new Gemini bot lives in the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and developers can ask coding-related questions.
The company said users can easily access the Gemini API starter template through Android Studio to add generative AI-powered features to their apps.
